Sundiver: The Uplift Saga, Book 1

For nearly a billion years, every known sentient species in the universe has been the result of genetic and cultural guidance - or "uplifting" - by a previously uplifted patron race. Then humans are discovered. Having already uplifted chimps and dolphins, humanity clearly qualifies as an intelligent species, but did they actually evolve their own intelligence, or did some mysterious patron race begin the process, then suddenly abandon Earth?

Brightness Reef: The Uplift Trilogy, Book 1

Persecuted refugees from six separate alien races have migrated to the idyllic planet Jijo. And despite their incredible diversity, the inhabitants live together in blissful harmony. However, settlement on Jijo is illegal - and it's only a matter of time before the residents of this forbidden paradise are discovered by the galactic powers-that-be.

Existence

Gerald Livingston is an orbital garbage collector. For a hundred years, people have been abandoning things in space, and someone has to clean it up. But there’s something spinning a little bit higher than he expects, something that isn’t on the decades’ old orbital maps. An hour after he grabs it and brings it in, rumors fill Earth’s infomesh about an "alien artifact".

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

The Practice Effect

Physicist Dennis Nuel was the first human to probe the strange realms called anomaly worlds - alternate universes where the laws of science were unpredictably changed. But the world Dennis discovered seemed almost like our own - with one perplexing difference. To his astonishment, he was hailed as a wizard and found himself fighting beside a beautiful woman with strange powers against a mysterious warlord as he struggles to solve the riddle of this baffling world.

Earth

The long-awaited new novel by the award-winning, best-selling author of Startide Rising and The Uplift War- an epic novel set 50 years from tomorrow, a carefully-reasoned, scientifically faithful tale of the fate of our world.

The Reality Dysfunction

The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton is the first in Night's Dawn, a sweeping galactic trilogy from the master of space opera. In AD 2600 the human race is finally realizing its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets across the galaxy host a multitude of wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary space-born creatures.

The Stars Are Legion

Somewhere on the outer rim of the universe, a mass of decaying world-ships known as the Legion is traveling in the seams between the stars. For generations, a war for control of the Legion has been waged, with no clear resolution. As worlds continue to die, a desperate plan is put into motion. Zan wakes with no memory, prisoner of a people who say they are her family.

A Deepness in the Sky

After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. There are two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches.

Revelation Space

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.

Dreamsnake

When the healer Snake was summoned, she traveled the blasted landscape with her three serpents. From the venom of two of them, she distilled her medicines. But most valued of all was the alien dreamsnake, whose bite could ease the fear and pain of death.

Insistence of Vision

What may we become? How will we endure? The future is a daunting realm, filled with real and imagined perils. So enter it prepared! Here are vivid tales about possible tomorrows, from the keen eye and colorful pen of David Brin, a modern master of speculative fiction.

Ringworld

Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.

The Collapsing Empire: The Interdependency, Book 1

Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Forever War

William Mandella is a soldier in Earth's elite brigade. As the war against the Taurans sends him from galaxy to galaxy, he learns to use protective body shells and sophisticated weapons. He adapts to the cultures and terrains of distant outposts. But with each month in space, years are passing on Earth. Where will he call home when (and if) the Forever War ends?

Kiln People

In a perilous future where disposable duplicate bodies fulfill every legal and illicit whim of their decadent masters, life is cheap. No one knows that better than Albert Morris, a brash investigator with a knack for trouble, who has sent his own duplicates into deadly peril more times than he cares to remember. But when Morris takes on a ring of bootleggers making illegal copies of a famous actress, he stumbles upon a secret so explosive it has incited open warfare on the streets of Dittotown.

The Mote in God's Eye

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre. No lesser an authority than Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".

Hyperion

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

The Fountains of Paradise

Vannemar Morgan's dream is to link Earth to the stars with the greatest engineering feat of all time: a 24,000-mile-high space elevator. But first he must solve a million technical, political, and economic problems while allaying the wrath of God. For the only possible site on the planet for Morgans Orbital Tower is the monastery atop the Sacred Mountain of Sri Kanda.

Heart of the Comet

Prescient and scientifically accurate, Heart of the Comet is known as one of the great hard SF novels of the 1980s. First published in 1986, it tells the story of an ambitious manned mission to visit Halley's Comet, alter its orbit, and mine it for resources. But all too soon, native cells - that might once have brought life to Earth - begin colonizing the colonists. As factions battle over the comet's future - and that of Earth - only love, courage, and ingenuity can avert disaster and spark a new human destiny.

The Gods Themselves

Only a few know the terrifying truth - an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun... They know the truth - but who will listen? They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy - but who will believe?These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to the Earth's survival.

Consider Phlebas

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....

Red Mars

Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Red Mars is the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's best-selling trilogy. Red Mars is praised by scientists for its detailed visions of future technology. It is also hailed by authors and critics for its vivid characters and dramatic conflicts.

For centuries, the red planet has enticed the people of Earth. Now an international group of scientists has colonized Mars. Leaving Earth forever, these 100 people have traveled nine months to reach their new home. This is the remarkable story of the world they create - and the hidden power struggles of those who want to control it.

Publisher's Summary

When Streaker - the first starship designed and crewed by dolphins - discovers a derelict ancient armada with evidence of the first sentient species ever, she sets off a war between dozens of galactic races eager to use the information for their own advancement.

New York Times best-selling author David Brin's novels stretch the imagination while providing action and thrills galore. Packed with exotic aliens and ancient mysteries, Startide Rising delivers breath-taking adventure in the grandest tradition of space opera.

What the Critics Say

Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1984

Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1983

"This is one of the outstanding SF novels of recent years." (Publishers Weekly)"As the plot thickens and the relationships between the characters become more complex, Wilson's narration is a calm and steady beacon." (AudioFile)

The light plot that hampered SUNDIVER, the first in the trilogy is more than made up for here. 250 years later we are in a more sharply defined reality, better writting, complex plot, more defined and refined concepts and a narrator in full stride. Great stuff, looking forward to the next installment

This imaginative book blends hardcore science with creative speculation. As with Sundiver (which should be read first) the storyline draws you in and becomes completely believable. It is written with thoughtfulness, humor and a deep understanding of human behavior. Not to mention the psychology of clients and ETs. I wish more of this author&#8217;s novels were available on audiobooks

Routined, tends to get into a "trot" which makes it hard to get, that seriously emotional stuff is actually happening. His character voices are good though. Just the narrative is very bad.

Any additional comments?

I really didn't enjoy this. The story was boring very often, it took so long till it became interesting and then in the final part he doesn't even get all out of it or bring you down nicely.Could be the speaker though, that made it so boring...

Dolphins in space, ESP, at the hipness of Japanese culture at the height of the Japan bubble. Pretty dated now. I was disappointed. Two factions argue over a plan that is withheld from the reader, presumably so as to not to ruin all suspense, but then we can't really get inside the heads of those on either side. They never argue face to face. The plan is either crazy or the best we got but without any discussion it lacks in motivation and believability. Instead we get lots of haiku

The narrator needs to turn off the recorder when he sips water and swallows. The gurgling glurping sounds get annoying and more frequent by the end of the book.

i read this in college and loved it. this time around, i didn't enjoy it quite as much. the characters are a little flat, and they aren't really developed, but they are likeable (except for the bad ones!). having said that, startide rising is a lot better than most sci fi. the premise is very creative, and david brin makes a deep statement about taking care of our fellow mammals. i could have lived without him ACTUALLY STATING IT at the end of the book, but maybe he was afraid some of us missed it.

Read this book over ten years ago the just last week got the audible love it even more listened to it twice picked up detail I had forgotten The up lift war Book is next perfect scifi book rich detailed world

At this point if you read the first book you should go out and get in print the book "Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe" so you can understand the different races because I had trouble with it and I assume that will help.

If you read the first book you might be expecting it to continue where that one left off but it doesn't, I was a little confused with the first book but I liked it this one is sorta the same, I was expecting something and I got something else but it was good.

There is a ship crewed by 150 uplifted dolphins, 7 Humans, and 1 uplifted Chimpanzee - they discover some 50,000 abandoned ships that probably belong to the "Progenitors" who uplifted the first race (but who uplifted them? I was always unclear about that one) and they find some old mummified body and take it along with data.

The book starts with them needing to go and get repairs and the aliens battling in orbit above the planet Kithrup because everyone wants the info they have for them selves.

Cool things happen on the planet below with the locals and some crashed ship but without giving anything away the ship Streaker gets off the planet and away with its info safe - the book jumps around lots at the end with different factions trying to either destroy, capture, or help Streaker.

I liked this book but it wasn't a perfect 5 star for me, that is because I had trouble following things at times, with all these 6 books I had the same problem but for the most part they are good and I will probably read them again in the future.

I rarely don't finish a book, but I had to let this one go about half way through. The plot has some interesting points, but takes half a book to layout just a few ideas. The character interaction is very uninteresting and strained. I just got bored with seemingly the same stuff droning on.